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In 2011, an extraordinary thing happened in B.C.: More people moved from our province to other parts of Canada than moved here.

Why did more people choose other provinces over B.C.? Because other provinces, especially in the West, offer more jobs and a lower cost of living.

In 2011, a Fraser Institute study found that the average family in B.C. makes less and pays more taxes than in any province west of Quebec.

While it is no surprise that employment in B.C. has lagged behind the resource-driven booming provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, we’re also significantly behind NDP-governed Manitoba. In fact, in 2011, B.C.’s unemployment rate either exceeded or tied that of recession-ravaged Ontario for five months.

We all know how expensive it is to buy a house in Greater Vancouver, but government decisions have significantly increased the cost of living as well. In the Lower Mainland, we pay the highest gas taxes in North America — and they just went up two cents per litre on April 1.

MSP premiums are going up and so are hydro rates. Car insurance rates — already the second highest in Canada — are going up as well.

With fewer jobs and a higher cost of living, it’s no wonder B.C. has been losing people to other provinces.

When I moved to British Columbia in my 20s, this was the place to be, a place of opportunity and the best place in Canada to build a life. B.C. can be that way again, and that’s the economic vision of the B.C. Conservative Party.

There are three essential components to our vision: unleashing small business, getting spending under control, and developing our natural resources.

Small businesses are the heart of our economy and employ 57 per cent of our private-sector workforce. Small businesses do not have access to the lobbyists and insiders who influence the Liberal government in Victoria, and so they have been losing out. Decisions like raising the minimum wage, cancelling the small business tax cut, and the carbon tax have all hurt. The carbon tax in particular has made everything more expensive for both consumers and small businesses, which is why a new B.C. Conservative government would scrap the carbon tax.

In the eight years between 2006 and 2014, B.C.’s debt will have doubled.

Despite all the new taxes and rate hikes, the provincial government is still short of cash because they have a spending problem. In the first year of Christy Clark’s administration, her government overspent by $881 million (not including the HST repayment). Recently, we have been treated to examples of millions wasted carelessly — $35 million on the failed BC Place naming deal, as well as revenue lost to fare dodgers and the failure to collect TransLink fines. How can the government ask British Columbians to pay more when their money is being thrown away?

A B.C. Conservative government would undertake a comprehensive spending review and cut and eliminate programs based on the following criteria:

Does this program help economic growth?

Does this program make B.C. a safer place to live, work and raise a family?

Does this program help people who, through no fault of their own, cannot help themselves?

If a program does not meet one of those three criteria, it will be phased out or eliminated outright.

British Columbia’s economy is dependent on our natural resources. For the last two decades, the rules about what is required to build a natural resource project have kept changing. Who is going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a project if they are told to go back to the drawing board partway through? And yet that is what has been happening.

After the Prosperity Mine was granted provincial environmental approval, a process that requires extensive consultation with local native groups, the premier suggested the company had not done enough to consult with the local band. Second-guessing her government’s approval does not build investor confidence.

When it comes to the Northern Gateway pipeline, we still don’t know if the premier supports it, but we do know that if it is not built, there will be a chilling effect on big projects in B.C.

A new B.C. Conservative government will take the position that B.C.’s resources belong to all British Columbians and should be developed for their benefit. All affected communities should be consulted, but no one community gets a veto, or will be allowed to unreasonably delay a project that is in the best interests of the province.

British Columbia can do better.

We can attract the best and the brightest to move here.

By focusing on small business, getting spending under control and setting clear rules for development, we can lead Canada in growth of both people and wealth.

John Cummins is the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party.

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